The king Undisputed
by atricesparrow
Summary: Scar, son of Kovu and Kiara, has grown up. He looks forward to become the king, but also wants to find a queen to love... but what happens, if the one he loves, is not like him at all? [Sequel to Every inch a King]
1. The next King

Disclaimer: I don't own the Lion King, or any of the characters from the original story.

_To new readers_; Kiara and Kovu had 3 cubs, and one of them is the future king - Kiara named him Scar, after Scar who didn't die as early as everyone thought in the first place. This story is about the young Scar, the new heir to the throne. I hope you like it. If you want to know more, I suggest you read my other story "Every inch a King", which takes place before this one.

_To previous readers_; you all know what happened. This story begins some years later, after the end of the first story. Scar is now grown up, and faces all the things a future king has to face. Things like choosing a queen, learning to grow up and rule... and last but not least, facing the past and trying not to make new or old mistakes. Thanks for the reviews of the last chapter of the other story, I'm glad to know the ending wasn't that bad, although it did end up a bit fluffy... hehe

So, well, here it is. The sequel to "Every inch a King", which I also think can be read without having read the first one. I have named this "The king Undisputed", once again, inspired by a song Scar sang...remember this is just thebeginning, it may not seem very exiting,but I am already writing the next chapter. I will also try to let more characters from the original movie be a part of this story. Please R&R, tell me if you like it or not :) Atrice

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**The King Undisputed**

**Part 1 - The next King**

A young lion walked with his head high towards Pride Rock. He seemed very proud of himself, couldn't help but smiling to himself, while he walked. On his back he carried a dead antelope, one he had killed himself – he wouldn't want to drag the antelope, it didn't look very smart at all. They were waiting for him, all of them. Waiting for the next king, who could indeed survive on his own, if he had to. But he wouldn't have to do so, for he had all the lionesses to make sure he made it through life. They were his huntresses, and he was their lover – at least the younger one's. He didn't care much about them for now though; helooked forward to hear, what his grandmother had to say to his prey; the queen mother was old now, and he knew she wouldn't live much longer. He would miss her; she had taken good care of him, especially when he was a cub, and his mother sunk into a strange sort of depression every now and again. But his father always said to his mother "Love will find a way." And it always did – soon his mother became her old and playful self again.

x-----x-----x-----x-----x------x

"There he is! He's back, and alright!" a young lioness called when she saw the majestic lion with the black mane, come near Pride Rock.

"Run down to him then… go on." Her mother said, and the lioness jumped down very fast and ran towards her brother.

"Scar! You made it!" she said happily and he smiled to her. He was taller than her, and his dark mane was like a frame around his face, making it look very superior.

"Of course I did, what did you expect?" he said, but with a friendly beam. His sisters had done their first hunt a year ago, for females always grew up faster than males.

"Nothing else but just that… with me and Kiana as your sisters, who are also great at hunting, how could you fail?" she said and he nodded.

"You are so right… come, help me with this girl…" Scar let the dead antelope fall down from his back, and his sister – whose name was Zarafa – took hold of the corpse and dragged it for him the rest of the way. He was happy about that, then he could stay looking untouchable and still show them his prey.

x-----x-----x-----x-----x------x

Kovu and Kiara waited for them on the Pride Rock, and had called for the rest of the pride. Soon Scar and Zarafa had climbed the rocks and stood in front of two rows of lions – the royal couple at the end of this alley; also with Kiana, Scars other sister, and his grandmother, who called herself Nalathari. The corpse was carried to the end of the alley, and here they stopped.

"Did you kill this prey yourself?" Kiara asked her son, and Scar nodded.

"Yes, I did so." He answered with a proud voice.

"And nobody here helped him, at all?" Kiara then asked to the rest of the pride. Nobody answered, meaning a no to the question. Nalathari, who was the old and wise queen mother, examined the corpse and nodded to Scar.

"It's very fine. You have succeeded killing your first official prey, and therefore you are now considered an adult lion and the true crown prince." The queen mother bowed to him, and his smile couldn't be any happier.

"Very well… welcome to the row of adults!" Kiara said with a warm and happy motherly smile, and Scar knew this was the end of his childhood. He couldn't play or do as silly things as before, now he truly had to learn all there was to learn, before he became the next king. But first, they had to celebreate the succes of his hunt.

The celebration took the rest of the evening and most of the night too. Some of the lionesses had also been out hunting, and there was food enough for a very good feast for all of them. A lot of fresh, bloodymeat always did a thing or two to a lion…


	2. Rapture, then a Shiver

Thanks for the reviews, I'm glad you all like it so far. I like Nalathari's new name, and I thought it best if she kept some of it; she still has the 3 scars across her eye, after all... it's in the past, but not forgotten.

I hope this chapter is not "too much" (you'll know what I mean), and that you like it too. As usual, I am writing on the next part already. Please do Read and Review, it would be very much appreciated. Atrice

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**Part 2 – Rapture, then a Shiver**

Down below the stars on the savannah, Scar ran with Kiana and Zarafa. It was the night of the celebreation, and everyone had had a good time. They laughed and staggered every now and then – mostly Scar and Zarafa though - only to find their steps again.

"This rapture is the wildest I ever had!" Scar said with a happy grin, as Kiana ran by his side.

"You ate too much, you won't be able to do anything tomorrow." She just said – Kiana was the thinker of the three siblings, and the more wise one. The motherly one, if you could say so.

"I don't care, for I am the true crown prince." Scar called to the sky and the old kings, and they all stopped and looked up there. Zarafa had almost as much to eat as Scar, and her blood and meat rapture was even worse than his – because she was smaller than him.

"You truly are the true one!" she grinned and poked to him. He poked back, and soon Kiana could only roll her eyes, watching her siblings roll around in the grass in a friendly and strange fight. Scar laughed, and Kiana felt this was going the wrong way. He had just been accepted as an adult, and then he behaved like this – the future king!

"I'm going back now… I'm tired." Kiana said to them and left – not caring if they listened to her at all. They didn't, they just kept laughing and biting at each other. Finally they lay side by side on their backs, looking at the stars.

"The king I'm named after, is up there…" Scar said, calming a bit down now.

"I know… it's a pitty that mother refuse to tell us the whole story. We only know what grandmother tells us." Zarafa said, and he nodded.

"She knows a lot though… she's been through a lot, Nalathari has been." He said, thinking about his grandmother, the queen mother. She had been the mate of Simba, whom he never knew. She had also known Mufasa, father of Simba, and Scar… the lion and king, whom Scar was named after. He knew Kiara loved Kovu, but he also knew that her depressed days were caused by something else; by a lion now dead, by the lion called Scar.

"Shouldn't we be going back?" Zarafa asked, interrupting Scars row of thoughts,and sat up.

"I'll stay here awhile… but you go back, I'll be there soon." Scar said to his sister, and she sent him a friendly look and left him alone on the savannah, under the stars.

x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x

He turned back to look at the sky and the old kings, wondering which star was Scar. "I'll always wonder who you are…" he whispered, as if it was almost sacred to talk to the stars like that.

"I was that rare and awesome thing… I was every inch a king." A voice echoed around Scar like a song, and he looked around, bewildered. Had he really eaten too much anyway? It was a voice, not much different than his own, perhaps a little less happy than his though.

"Scar…?" Scar whispered, knowing it had to be him.

"Who else, prince?" the voice echoed again, coming from another world. Scar stood up, shivering a bit all of a sudden. He felt a strange wind around him, making him feel even more cold. Small pieces of grass, leaves and feathers whirled up in the air around him, and then on to the sky.

"Why are you speaking to me? Am I doing something wrong?" Scar asked the old king. He followed the whirling grasses with his eyes, as they flew up in the sky.

"You need to find a queen, Kovu - a queen for you, before it's too late." The old king Scar replied to him, and the young prince nodded.

"But… I don't love anyone in this pride, except for my sisters. And I can't mate with them…" the young Scar then said.

"That is true, heir. You must travel to…" but he never finished, or Scar never heard what the old king said – someone punched him in the head, and interrupted the hole sceance. The wind stopped whirling around in that strange manner, and Scar looked around, only to see into the eyes of a now very old baboon.

"Why did you do that!" Scar snapped at the monkey and began to walk away, back towards Pride Rock.

"Because that king is no good for you! No, you should listen to me, you should." Rafiki followed the crown prince, the stick he punched Scar with still in his hand.

"I was named after him! There must be something good in him for me then!" Scar still wasn't happy with the interruption, where should he travel to? Where should he find his mate?

"If only you understood the stories you heard. Scar was only loved before he died, and by then it was too late. His mind was twisted, young prince… he never became sane, not even with love. That is the short part of it… but since you're not interested, I'm leaving! Bye…" and Rafiki jumped in the other direction, towards his sacred tree. Scar stood still for awhile, looking after the baboon with a bit dumb look on his face;not sure if he should walk back to Pride Rock, or follow the monkey. He chose the first option.


	3. Rafiki

_SunRise19_, I doubt Scar IIwill mate with any of his sisters... they're his sisters, and his mind is not twisted like Scar I. I'm really glad you like it :)

_Soulbound_; well, I looked up the word 'athari' again (using an online english-swahili dictionary), and according to that, one of it's meanings is scar. It also means other things though... I just like the name and it fits the story. In this chapter you'll perhaps understand more of why her name is the way it is now :)

_Morpheus_, well noone knows what Scar I is up to... not yet, anyway. Not even I know yet - as the things happen while I write them, not much is planned at all.

Okay, so a few things needed explanation (like Nalathari's name), and thought over - so this chapter came to be. It's a bit short though, but I hope you can live with it ;) I know the story is moving on a bit slow, but there will be more "action" soon, I promise. Any suggestions on what could happen? Please do R&R, once again... Atrice

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**Part 3– Rafiki**

'Oh Mufasa, why are you not doing anything anymore? Have you really left the Pridelands for good? And did you ever meet Simba again? Things have been going right for some years now, but Iget thefeeling, that your brother may be dead, but he hasn't left your pride yet…'

Rafiki sat on a branch on his tree, watching the sun rise during the dawn. He sighed… he knew he hadn't got much of this life left, and he was becoming tired. Not the same strength anymore, and since Simba died, he almost never came in contact with Mufasa either. Simba seemed to have left the pride entirely, he was not even 'present' to guide the shaman just a little. Rafiki wanted the young Scar to become a good king, and it had all been going well. He himself hadn't interfered much with the pride, since he felt he was too old for that. But Nalathari came to see him every now and again, the lioness who had been a cub when Rafiki was in his best age. He already knew her as Nalathari before any of the others did – he was the first one she told her new name to. And Rafiki had nodded and said it was only right that she chose it to be that way. She was no longer the Nala who was the mate of Simba… and she was no longer the Athari whom Scar created. She was both and none of them. She really had become Nalathari. The name also seemed to fit her better, especially now she wasn't young anymore, although she was still a beauty.

Of course, when you think of the sun, it appears… or perhaps, when you think of a certain lioness, she appears – she had made that her habit, at least to Rafiki.

"Rafiki, are you here?" he heard Nalathari's voice from beneith the tree, and slowly he moved down to greet her. His moves weren't as swift as they had once been.

"Right here, young girl." Rafiki said with a grin, and swung himself down from the last branch to land on the ground in front of her. She smiled back.

"Young… you should talk… soon there won't be anyone left, who knew Mufasa or even Scar." Nalathari said and sat down. The old baboon nodded.

"I am aware of that. But time moves on, and we must let the young ones reign alone. Prides have been before yours, and prides will come without me to guide them." Rafiki explained, sounding as wise as ever, and she couldn't help but smiling at it. He had always been like that. And since they returned after the death of Simba – and Scar – she had come to know Rafiki much better, and often came for advice to pass on. Now was one of those times.

"I am a bit worried about one of the young ones…" Nalathari sighed, and she knew that he knew, who she was speaking about.

"And I understand your worry… you talked with him today?" the baboon sat down and leaned against the tree. Nalathari really felt he was beginning to look very old. He had always been there, it would be so strange when he was gone.

"A little… but he didn't say much – he had a bit too much to eat yesterday, so today he's not able to do much at all. But he said he spoke with a king yesterday, and I only know one who would care enough to speak to Scar." She described. Mufasa never knew the young cub, and Simba would perhaps – had he been alive – talked with the prince, but he would never have accepted the name Kiara chose for her son. The only one who would and could care, was the lion Scar was named after… and what care would he show? They had no idea if his sanity entered after death, or if he had figured out, that he could still stir up things from the land of the dead. Rafiki believed in the latter, and the lioness hadn't really thought about it yet.

"You're right, dear Nalathari. He did speak with the late king of the same name. I saw it, and I interrupted the conversation – it didn't seem like a good idea." Rafiki said and Nalathari nodded, but not with a smile. What if the fact, that someone had loved the old Scar, had changed him? She wanted to believe that, but wasn't sure if she dared to do so.

"Scar has been… so carefree all his life. He has been living in his own Hakuna Matata. But now he's grown, he wants to know life; and how he got his name. I know he'll try to get in contact with the stars again." She said.

"If he wants to, there is not much we can do. We can only try to make him understand, Nalathari. Just that." With that, she knew this conversation was over. They spent the rest of the afternoon speaking about life in the pride, and talking about old days…

…without knowing anything about what went on, at the Pride Rock – that someone were trying to teach Scar to grow up, but not knowing how he hated to be interrupted; especially now.


	4. Meeting the Hyenas

I'm glad you liked the last, a bit short chapter... I finally came up with something new, and I hope you like this one too. Scar IIhas the same name but that doesn't mean he is like Scar I. That Scar is not even his father... not even his grandfather - he is his great-grandfather's brother (sounds like Scar I was very old, hehe) so they're not that closely related. But we'll see what happens:)

Please do Read and Review - Atrice

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**Part 4 – Meeting the Hyenas**

As he ran across the savannah, he thought about where he was heading. It had been a quick decision, that he would run away to find a queen. One moment he had been about to have fun with Kaya – a lioness he liked to make out with, but nothing more - the next moment he was on his way away from Pride Rock, not sure when he would return. He felt a little bad for Kiara, who expected him to come home… and also Kiana and especially Zarafa, they would both miss him. But Kiara had also interrupted him – he had been going towards his private cave with Kaya, when his mother called about the job. She felt he should have more duties, now he was officially an adult. Scar stopped running, thinking about what to do. First things first, he had a job that needed to be done – then he would leave. Kiara had sent him out to check on the hyenas, make sure they weren't up to anything; and that had been the perfect excuse to run away. Scar changed direction to find the hyenas.

It didn't take long – the sound of the cackling hyenas was a sound you couldn't miss. He hid behind a large rock to observe the repulsive animals. He actually never met a hyena like that, he had been told they were disgusting and somewhat dangerous beasts, whom you shouldn't get too close with. It wasn't a large pack though, Scar knew most of them still kept to the Shadowlands, from where the Outlanders had come. The place his namesake had chosen as a hideout, with the hyenas – he did know that much about the old king. Only few hyenas actually lived in the Pridelands. Scar pulled himself together and jumped quickly onto the rock, so it would seem he had been standing there all along. Of course, all the heads turned towards him, and Scar kind of liked this; having them look up to him. He was superior, he was better, they were below him…

"Uh, a lion?" a young female hyena said, but didn't sound half as frightened as she tried to sound. "Looks like someone, who doesn't belong… at least not here! Who are you?" a male said from behind – he looked a lot older than her. Scar jumped down from the rock and kept his head high, he had to show them who was the leader.

"I am Scar – here to make sure, that you're not doing anything you shouldn't." he explained, and the elder hyena stepped forward.

"Scar? We heard the new prince had been named just that…" the hyena took a closer look on the large, but still young, lion. "You know… my father knew the original Scar." And with that, the young version of Scar became much more curious.

"I see… I know he used to mingle a lot with your kind – not a thing the pride ever approved. When I look at you, I see why." He said, and all the hyenas eyes were suddenly again fixed upon the young prince. They had what was left of some corpses, and most of them were eating. They did look very filthy, not clean at all. And the smell of them…

"You lions, think you're so good! Just because you've got the power! But who removes rotten cadavers from the savannah, to make it looks pretty to you? Who moves around in the back, looked down upon, but really just helping? Who do you think? I don't get how you deserve that name!" the male hyena said, walking towards Scar – who moved backwards towards the rock. And what did he say to his mother? 'Hyenas, they're nothing, I can handle them." He regretted that for now.

"My mother chose my name, she actually cared about Scar! But you never knew, did you? That any lion would actually care about him? I'm done here, it seems you're doing what I'm always told hyenas are doing; looking ugly and smelling." Scar turned his back to them, to leave, but several hyenas ran in front of him, blocking his way. A bit bewildered he looked around, he was trapped. This wasn't much fun anymore, suddenly – and they knew how he felt.

"That does it! Come, and see where we belong… then you'll perhaps understand more!" the old hyena nodded to the rest, who left their meal and encircled Scar, then followed him towards the Shadowlands… 'where I was born', he thought to himself. He never actually saw the place.

x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x

It was a long walk to the cliffs and rocks, the border between the Pridelands and the Shadowlands. But soon they got there, and the eldest hyena entered… Scar had a few thoughts about entering the place, since it had always been a little sacred to him. That he was born there, but never returned before now. He wondered why, didn't he have the right to know what happened? Perhaps these beasts would tell him more? They entered a dark tunnel, but soon everything lightened up in red and green colors, small craters were filled with some strange, bubbling fluid, and the whole place was warm; the smell of smoke and sulphur could not be ignored either. The hyenas kept walking, until they reached a huge hall within the Shadowlands. Up high in this hall, against one of the walls, were a high platform – to Scar, it almost seemed like a throne. The hall was lit by the strange, vulcanic fires that were seen everywhere, mostly green here though. This place seemed to be the main home for the hyenas living here; there were many of them, most of them resting or gnawing already dry bones; but they stood up and looked after the little pack, who came walking into the hall. A lion hadn't entered this hall, since very long ago. And once again, the lion entering, had a bronzed pelt and an almost black mane.


	5. Duchess

Sorry for the long update time, but I've been very busy with other things. I hope this long chapter makes up for it, and that you like it. It took a few tries to make it right, but here it is.Please do read and review, as always... Atrice

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**part 5 – Duchess**

The little pack of hyenas from the Pridelands, surrounding Scar, stopped in front of the high pedestal. Scar looked up, but couldn't see anyone up there. He felt thousands of eyes rest on him, but tried to look like he didn't care. The elder hyena – his name was Al, Scar had heard the other hyenas call him that – opened his mouth to say something towards the pedestal, but a voice called from above before he had a chance to speak.

"Who is this?" it was a female voice, which surprised Scar.

"A guest for you – the next king of the Pridelands, and you will never guess his name!" Al called back, but a laugh was heard. Finally Scar saw someone stand up on the pedestal, and with a few swift jumps she stood down with them.

"You think I'm that bad informed… please, Al, we're not all as stupid as you! Welcome, Scar… pleased to meet you." She said. Her voice was playful and sarcastic, not annoying like the rest of them. She seemed more slim and agile than the rest, and her pelt was lighter too. He liked her already - Scar pulled himself together and bowed to her.

"Pleased to meet you too… and who are you?" he said, trying to sound as noble as possible. Finally a hyena you could talk to!

"Duchess, leader of this… this… oh, whatever. And why were you brought here? We haven't had a lion here since your namesake, as far as I know." The female said.

"Insults! He called us ugly and smelling creatures… felt he should see the rest then." Al said and Duchess rolled her eyes, looked at him with a sigh.

"But most of us are ugly and smelling, dear Al… don't you ever understand anything? Come with me, Scar, let me show you around." Duchess said with a smile, and Scar followed her with a smirk;through a portal-like opening in the wall near the pedestal. He held his head high, did not look behind at the other hyenas.

x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x

They walked around in silence for awhile, Scar just looked at the special scenery of the place, and Duchess seemed to be in her own world.

"I am wondering... don't you like your own kind?" Scar finally broke the silence, as they stood by a river of liquid red fire.

"Not always, they're so annoying… stupid, most of them. All they think about is their next meal." Duchess explained, and he nodded. It didn't sound like a lie at all.

"But… why are you here then? Why don't you leave them?" Scar asked, not quite sure he understood this strange female hyena after all. She didn't seem like the rest of them at all. She smiled, and nodded to him to follow her. They walked upwards, jumped over cracks and openings, until they reached another portal in the wall. Duchess stepped out first, and Scar followed her slowly. They stood on the pedestal, looking down on the creatures.

"What do you see?" Duchess asked and looked at him.

"Hyenas… I have no idea how many…" Scar said, a bit astonished by the view from up here. The hall was huge, and the filthy animals were everywhere.

"Precisely… and I am their leader. I like the view from here, I like the fact that I am their superior. I can't leave them behind, not when I think about who I am." She explained, and Scar replied with a smile. He somehow understood this. To be their superior, their leader… their king! He would be the king sometime, being the one leading everyone on the savannah.

"I think I understand now… I'm to be king too, one day. Rule everything." Scar said with a dreamy voice, but suddenly he remembered the reason he was here. He had to find a mate, a queen to be by his side, once he actually became that king he longed to be.

"Don't you look forward to become their regent?" Duchess asked, seeing the sad look on the young lions face. He lookeddownon her.

"Of course, I've been looking forward to it all my life. There's only one problem, and that's why I left my pride." Scar had no idea why he felt he could talk with this hyena about everything. It just seemed so natural, and she was treating him so kindly.

"What problem would that be? You're a lion, you shouldn't have any problems with anything – unlike us." Duchess said, but with an ironic smile. He liked her strange sense of humour.

"That's not true… at least not to me. I want to find a mate, someone I can love. The lionesses in the pride, they're all very cute – but just not what I am looking for. So I am out to search for my future queen." He explained, and Duchess nodded with thoughtful eyes.

"Ah, yes, that does seem like a problem. You know what, stay here tonight… and tomorrow, I'll take you to the Skylands, I know there's another pride of lions there." She said and laid down on the pedestal, inviting him to rest too.

"The Skylands?" Scar asked, once he had let himself lie down too.

"On the other side of our lands, there's a savannah… it's higher than yours, that's why we call it the Skylands. You wait and see..." Duchess said with a smile.

The day wasn't over yet, but they spent the rest of it staying on the throne, talking about everything and nothing. But Scar kept returning to the thought about the Skylands. It seemed great, and he was happy after all, that Al brought him here. He looked forward to see another savannah, lions he didn't know at all. He never knew hyenas could be so nice, he thought with a smile to Duchess.


	6. First Impression

Thanks for the reviews - it's weird, I see that many people read the stories, but only 2 review. But at least I'm glad to know that you two like it, hehe... I'm glad you like Duchess, I spent some time thinking about how the leader should be. And now I've got a background-story for her too, but we'll see where that comes in.

Anyway, here is the next part, I hope you that too. A long chapter again... will do my best to update soon. Please do R&R -Atrice

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**Part 6 – First Impression**

Someone pushed to Scar in his sleep. They wanted him to wake up, and quickly, so they could spend the day having fun.

"Stop it, Zarafa… 'm tired…" he said, still half asleep.

"Zarafa? I thought you said you didn't like any lioness in your pride!" a playful voice said with a laugh in it, and he opened his eyes, staring into those of the hyena called Duchess. Scar shook his head to be sure he didn't dream this either – but then he noticed the view from the pedestal, over all the hyenas in the hall, also waking up now. Some were already fighting over a bone with dry meat on it, others were just yawning or trying to sleep in.

"Right… uhm… Zarafa is my sister – I love her, but she can't be my queen. So… 'morning…" Scar stood up and stretched, first one hind leg at a time, then kneeling down in a long stretch with the front legs, accompanied by a yawn. – making Duchess jump a few steps back from the huge paws and teeth too.

"I see that… so, are you hungry, or do you want to see the Skylands now?" Duchess asked and left the pedestal through the small portal, and Scar followed her.

"We could go to the Skylands and eat there?" he suggested.

"We've got meat here…" the hyena explained, but Scar sent a glance back to the great hall.

"I don't feel like eating hyena meat… let's go?" he said and she nodded.

"You're right, it's probably half rotten too – not that it makes it bad though, but you're the guest. Follow me…" Duchess moved on, and for awhile they walked in silence again. Soon they entered a dry and already warm valley, with a clear blue sky far above them.

"I had no idea the Shadowlands were this big…" he said to himself while they walked, and Duchess nodded to him.

"Me neither… come, up here." She jumped to a low platform, leading to a path along the stonewalls. The path went upwards, but it was still a long walk before Duchess made one last leap and disappeared. Scar followed her, and almost fell back down again, when he landed on the top.

The savannah was beautiful! It was huge and very flat, likea high plateau, which it was. But there were green grass, and small trees and bushes and cliffs here and there. He saw antelope's and giraffes, zebras and many other eatable animals from where they stood.

"Close that mouth, it's becoming windy!" Duchess woke him up with a grin. "You said you wanted to eat here… so go, fetch us some food!" she pushed to him, and he sighed, but with a smile.

"Alright… food… a small antelope sounds good." Duchess laid down in the shadow of some bushes,while Scar left her alone to explore this new land.

x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x

He still almost couldn't understand the fact, that there was another savannah, probably almost as large as the one he came from. And so green it was! Scar crept down as he spotted a herd of antelopes, watching them. He had practised hunting a lot, because he wanted a good prize to come home with for his 'first hunt'. The antelopes were grassing, silently, did not notice him at all. Slowly he crept closer to them, doing his best not to breathe heavily or make any noices. Finally he felt it was time, and jumped for the nearest animal – the entire herd began to run, but he was young and quick, and the antelope he had decided upon soon fell for his jaw. After the short, but triumphant hunt, he stood still, looking at his first private prey. He would share it with Duchess, of course he would, he promised that… he was just about to pick up the corpse, when he realized he wasn't the only lion around.

"Stealing our prey!" it was a male lion speaking to him in a deep and noble voice, and with a paw on the dead antelope, Scar turned around. The lion's pelt was lighter than Scars, even lighter than that of his family. It was an adult lion, older than himself he realized.

"Not stealing… I killed it, so it's mine." Scar explained, but the other lion didn't accept it, and took a few steps forward, holding his head high in a superior way.

"This is my savannah, and only my pride is allowed to hunt here!" the light-pelted lion said, and Scar sighed. Great, so he met their king, and the first impression wasn't too great!

"Well, may I have this antelope then? It's just for me, and a friend. I'll leave soon, I promise." He tried, he didn't want to get into a fight. But the other lion seemed to want that, since he still moved closer, claws showing.

"You do not touch him!" Scar suddenly heard Duchess say – out of the blue she stood by his side, and the other lion stopped with something that was almost a startle. When he pulled himself together again, he didn't look happier than when he saw Scar with the prey at first.

"Duchess! I exiled you!" the other lion growled, and Scar looked from one to the other. So the hyena was known around these parts, and exiled… why didn't she tell?

"He didn't know any better, Kofi! And I just wanted to show him your beautiful lands, is that wrong?" Duchess snapped back at the king, whose name appeared to be Kofi. The other lion still growled at Duchess, who also seemed ready for a fight.

"Yes, as you chose to follow him! But since you put it that way… whoever you are, let me show you my kingdom – share your prey with me… or leave." Kofi said to Scar, who wasn't sure what he wanted to do. He felt he should stay by Duchess' side, since she stood up for him like that. She was far too kind to him, he had no idea how he could ever repay her. But he also wanted to see the rest of this savannah, perhaps meet a young lioness somewhere; he was, after all, out to find a queen once he became the king; wouldn't Duchess understand that? After all, in the first place she did show him the Skylands, so that he could find a mate. Scar looked at Duchess with a sigh; he felt bad about leaving her behind.


	7. Not white, not pure

I hope you can forgive the long update time! I've been really busy with my education... but here it is, the next chapter. It's not perfect, but it's the best I could do (and I've rewritten it many times) :)

Please do read and review :) Atrice

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**Part 7 – Not white, not pure**

Scar had left a hind leg from the antelope behind for Duchess, and dragged the rest of the carcass with him. She hadn't seemed upset by the fact, that he chose to follow Kofi, at least that he was happy about. She accepted it… that this was his own kind. He still wondered though, why she had been exiled.

"So… a lion, needing a hyena to stand up for him… who are you?" Kofi asked superiorly, and laid down below a tree – Scar figured this was the place they would share the rest of the antelope.

"My name is Scar… and I don't 'need' a hyena to stand up for me, but she happens to be my friend!" Scar said, a bit more harsh than he meant it, but decided it didn't matter. It was correct, after all. Duchess had only showed him kindness, and all he could do was pay it back to her.

"Your friend? Ha! How can a hyena and a lion be friends? The king of the animals and the lowest of them all?" Kofi said and took a good bite of the antelope. The blood around his mouth seemed so much more red, because he had such a light pelt.

"Why not? You're often attrac… you often find yourself in good company, with those who are the opposite of yourself… and she's not like other hyenas." Scar explained, and thought a bit about his own words. He had almost said he was attracted by her! A hyena… maybe she had been friendly, but definetly not in that way.

"I know… she's not brought up byher own kind.Duchess once lived with my pride, but that was before I became the king of it." The other lion spoke of it, as if it didn't matter at all. But a lot of little pieces fell into place as he said that. That was why she was so different, and seemed stronger. She had been brought up with proper food, probably also learned how to hunt. But before Kofi became the king? Scar could guess what that meant… his father didn't throw the hyena away, but Kofi did? Scar chose to not dive further into the subject just now, since had the feeling that it might upset the king.

"Interesting… so, where does your pride live? I don't see any big rocks or anything. In the Pridelands, my pride lives by the Pride Rock." Scar said and looked around after a little bit of the meat too. He wasn't even that hungry.

"We live everywhere – the kingdom is our palace… Pridelands you say, I've heard of it. Were you thrown out of your pride?" Kofi then asked, which made Scar stop and look at him.

"Not at all… I'm the crown prince, and the pride adore me." Scar explained, and Kofi stood up and wandered a bit back and forward.

"So, why are you here? To gain more territory, is that it? These are my lands!" Kofi said, suddenly he didn't seem very pleased with the young prince at all.

"No, I am only out to find someone, who can be my future queen…" Scar said, feeling that things weren't going the right way at all, when Kofi interrupted him with a laugh.

"And you think, that I would ever give one of my pure, white daughters to you? A dark one! Never!" he said and looked down at Scar, who still lay on the grass.

"What do you mean? What is so wrong with being different?" Scar said, getting up too, facing the white lion with dark eyes.

"A pride should be kept pure and clean! You may leave, Scar! You won't find anything here!" Kofi said, walking towards Scar in a way that made him go backwards, out into the sun again. The young prince growled.

"I feel sorry for your pride, I really do! I hope… they'll survive you!" Scar began to run towards the cliffs leading away from the savannah. It had been quite a walk after all, he thought. He lost his breath after awhile, and walked. He looked back – couldn't see Kofi anywhere anymore, and slowed down. Was it bad to be dark like Scar? Why was that bad… his father was dark too. And his namesake had been even darker, and he had been loved in the end. Who would ever love Scar as more than a brother or a son?

x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x

He found the rock-valley again, and began to walk down. He didn't see Duchess anywhere, and walked alone with his head held down. It had been a bad idea to visit the Skylands, but he would forgive Duchess – she did it for him, and he wanted to thank her. She even stood up for him...Scar didn't look behind anymore, on the way back towards the Shadowlands. Didn't see an almost white lioness stand in the shadow of some bushes in the Skylands, looking down at him with wonder in her eyes.


	8. A great offer

Thanks for the reviews - Sunrise19, who else could the lioness be, but one of Kofi's daughters?

So... this chapter ended up a bit long, but I'm sure it's alright after all. I hope you like it - if you do, please do review. Atrice

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**Part 8 – A great offer**

Scar finally reached the great portal leading into the Shadowlands, and stopped here. Should he really go back? He wanted to go back to Kofi and tell him a thing or two, but knew it wasn't a good idea. He had been thrown out of the Skylands!

"Duchess?" called Scar into the darker parts behind the portal – which lead into a corridor in the rocks. He wasn't sure of the way back to the great hall.

"Scar…" a voice called back from the dark deep, as of a cold current of air suddenly came against him. It wasn't the voice of Duchess, that was for sure. "You did not listen…" the voice whispered, and Scar felt himself stand completely still.

"Did not listen? What do you mean?" he knew by now, that it was his namesake speaking to him from the land of the dead… in the Shadowlands.

"Never did I speak of the Skylands to you… never…" the voice of the late king Scar said to him.

"You told me to travel, and so I did! You never told me where to go!" Scar called back, suddenly feeling a bit strange – here he was, speaking to a dark corridor without any living creatures! And the late Scar couldn't know everything, could he?

"Not beyond the Shadowlands… not beyond…" he sounded more distant now, and the young prince soon found out why. From the shadows inside came a hyena, looking at him puzzled eyes.

"Who were you talking to?" Duchess asked to the bewildered Scar. He shouldn't go beyond the Shadowlands? What did that mean, he wouldn't find a lioness in there! Maybe it was true, that the old king hadn't been quite right in his head.

"Oh… noone…" he said and sat down. Duchess didn't look convinced, but figured this wasn't anything she should ask him about.

"Right… so, what happened up there? Why are you back already?" she asked, sounding very concerned about him.

"Kofi… threw me out! He said I would never get one of his white daughters as my mate, because I was dark." Scar explained to the hyena, who nodded.

"I'm sorry – I thought he might have changed just a little." Duchess put a paw on Scars one paw, to show that she was really sorry about it.

"You were wrong… I'll never find someone to rule with me." Scar said with a sigh, but sent her a little smile. He couldn't stand looking at her sad face, she looked like it was all her fault that it went wrong. And it wasn't. "Duchess… thank you, for standing up for me, up there…" he said.

"Don't think about that, I just didn't want you in trouble. Come, let's go back." Duchess said and together, side by side,they went into the dark corridor.

x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x

Soon a light pelted lioness stood where they had just been. She sniffed on the ground and looked into the dark corridor. Who was that lion? He appeared young and handsome -just right for her. And then he was so different, which made him so much more attractive. She had never seen a lion with a black mane, or such a dark pelt. She wanted to know that young lion, and sent a glance backwards – towards the way to the Skylands, which she never left before now. She knew her father would never consider such a different lion as her mate, but there was something about the dark lion… something that made her venture into the Shadowlands, alone but curious.

x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x

"There, we're back…" Duchess nodded towards the entrance to the pedestal, and Scarreplied with a sigh. "Listen, I mean it… I'm really sorry that it didn't work out." She said when she saw the still disappointed look on his face.

"I know… I just don't feel up to anything right now." Scar laid down on the pedestal with a bump, and Duchess sat down, thinking about how she could cheer him up.After thinking a bit, her face brightened up in a smile.

"You know what… stay here for awhile, rule with me. Try out your skills as a king!" she said with a smile and poked him with herpaw,sending a true hyena grin to Scar.He looked up at her, as if she was really just joking.

"You're serious?" he said and she just replied with a huge smile. "Well… it's a great offer..." Scar thought a bit about it, looked down over the many hyenas in the hall. It wouldn't be that hard ruling this filthy crowd, he thought – and he didn't feel like going home just yet. Plus the fact that his late namesake told him not to go beyond the Shadowlands… maybe he would find something here after all? "I'll stay… yes, I'll stay." He said, smiled, and sat up next to Duchess. She nodded and stood up on all four, and moved to the edge of the pedestal, getting the attention of the crowd.

"Listen! Everyone!" she called out and they looked up. "Scar is going to stay with us for awhile, and he will help me as the leader. Just thought I'd let you know – he's better than his namesake, I'm sure about that!" Duchess explained to pure silence. After the words stopped their echo in the hall, a loud noice of whispering was heard, but nobody spoke against her. They had accepted it.

x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x

In the shadow in an opening into the great hall, stood the unknown lioness from the Skylands. She watched the hyenas, and had heard what Duchess just said to them. So his name was Scar – what an interesting name. And he would be a leader now… she decided to stay too, but hide until she could meet him alone somewhere.


	9. Strange feelings

_Morpheus_... and the relationship becomes more fascinating, I'm glad it doesn't seem too weird. At least I hope it won't ;)

_kahllynn_, thanks for the review - maybe I'll take a look at your story soon ;)

_Sunrise19_, reminds you of Pocahontas? That's very interesting, hehe... but glad you still like it :)

So... next chapter is already around! And things begin to mix up now, but I hope you think they mix up in a good way. Please, as always, review and tell me what you think. Atrice

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**Part 9 – Strange feelings**

Scar woke up to another day of watching over hyenas. Who did nothing but eat, cackle and talk with their annoying high voices. He looked around, but didn't spot Duchess on the pedestal. She probably went out to find something to eat. Scar left the pedestal and walked around in the dark corridors until he found the chamber he had chosen as his private one. Green steam lighted up the chamber, and he liked the look of it. Here he laid down with a sigh again. But something was lurking just outside the entrance to this chamber… something light, maybe even white? He had felt like someone was watching him the last few days, and didn't know what to believe. His dead namesake wouldn't appear like that, would he?

"Who's there?" Scar called, and saw the white figure move closer to the chamber.

"Hey boss!" someone called from out there, and the figure disappeared without a sound. What could it be? He became more and more curious. "Hey… boss!" a pack of 4 hyenas entered his chamber, and he sat up.

"Oh, what is it?" he asked, annoyed, and they looked at each other.

"We've got a bone to pick with you!" a female named Brize spoke, and Scar tried to look interested, but it didn't really work. But at least he knew a few of these hyenas now.

"So… what is it?" he asked again.

"Al said he met a lioness on the savannah yesterday – asking for you! They want you back, your socalled royal family." A male said, who often followed Brize, but Scar didn't know his name yet. And he also failed to get the point of what the male hyena said, since he had no plans about going back to the Pridelands just yet.

"And your problem is?" Scar said after a silence too long.

"You're not going back, right? Having a lion as the leader is actually… not that bad." Brize said, winking to him with one eye, and Scar smiled to her.

"Thanks for the compliment… I don't feel like going back, so I still don't see the problem. You may leave." Scar said and waved arrogantly with his paw against the entrance; they understood a hint, left him alone in the chamber. So his family wanted him back? That meant someone had told them he was here… well, if they wanted him, they could come and get him! He had been here in two weeks now, and had found that ruling hyenas weren't such a bad thing to do. Boring, perhaps, but it wasn't bad to be their superior. Especially not when your fellow leader had become your best frined… it wasn't bad to be a king at all…

x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x

Scar decided to go out and find Duchess, he felt like spending time with her. But he also used the walkabout in the corridors for something else; he was now completely sure, that someone followed him. But when he turned around, that someone disappeared, went into hiding. Finally, by a red stream of lava, he found Duchess – who had found a leg of some animal, gnawing on it. He smiled when he saw her familiar face, which he had come to care about.

"Ah, Scar! Come and join me…" she looked up with a smile, and he laid down next to her. "How's your leadership going?" Duchess asked while he took a bite of the meat.

"Fine, they actually like me… and I like being here." Scar said to her, looking happy,andshe beamed that right back at him. But then he suddenly looked thoughtful again.

"Is something wrong?" Duchess asked after awhile, and he wasn't sure how to reply. He then took a deep breath and looked into her eyes.

"I like being here, as it's fun to rule. And… it's a little bit funny… but another reason why I like being here, is because you are here." Scar explained, and seemed like the words had been hard to find. What would she say to that? He was sure she understood what he meant. Duchess was quick to reply.

"Don't worry, I like having you around too. We make a great couple, don't we? The hyena leader and the crown prince of lions." She said with a grin, and he laughed back and nodded.

"We sure do…" Scar said and stood up again. It had been enough for now, he felt like being alone again, thinking all this over. He sent a smile to Duchess, who smiled back as he left. She had strange feelings about this too, and was glad that he had chosen to tell her how he felt. At least that meant she wasn't alone with this.

x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x

Scar walked back to his private chamber, but something was wrong… there was a different scent in here; Scar looked at the rocks and bones in the corner of the chamber. That was the only possible place to hide, and he decided to take action.

"I know you're there! Show yourself!" he called and silence replied. "You can't hide forever!" Scar tried again, and now he saw someone slowly appear from behind the rocks. And he was both surprised and disturbed, when he saw the most beautiful lioness he had ever laid his eyes upon. She really was white, or very close to being white, and her eyes were golden. She looked like… he had no idea what to call it, but something beautiful coming from Heaven. For a moment he almost forgot about the strange feelings he shared with Duchess.


	10. Blanché

Okay, so I can see on the front page, that I may not give "review replies" here anymore... so... but I like the new function where you can reply from the reviews-list...

anyway, along came an almost white lioness to stir up the mind of Scar. It's not a very interesting chapter (to me), but I hope you like it anyway... please do read and review. Atrice

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**Part 10 – Blanché**

Scar shook his head, trying to understand the white lioness was the very same, who had been following him during the past weeks. And it seemed like she lit up the entire chamber, now she was visible – the green steam appeared to fade, and everything was bright. Scar didn't understand anything of what was happening, and without thinking about it, it burst out of him;

"Who are you?" just as he said it, he wished he never spoke. It had come out all wrong… but the lioness only sent him a smile.

"My name is Blanché, and I followed you from the Skylands… I guess you found out pretty soon. So, that's me – Scar, crown prince and leader of the hyenas with a strange one named Duchess." The beautiful female said with a cute smile, and threw him back to reality. Right, Duchess, that was the hyena he cared about… and he was Scar, crown prince of the Pride Lands. And he was leading the hyenas here, that was right too. Where did the last few minutes go?

"She's not strange, just different!" once again he wanted to take the words back, and began to wander about in the chamber, impatiently. Why did he act like this?

"I know… she lived with my pride, but before I was born. My father threw her out… because he didn't like oddities." Blanché spoke with a soft and calm voice, very unlike Scar and his uncontrolled behaviour – at least for now, he felt like that.

"I'm very well aware of that – he sent me away for the same reason. Why did you follow me?" of course Scar never gave it a thought, why he reacted the way he did. When he met the lioness, he could have chosen several ways of countering with it; he could be nice and friendly, welcome her. But he didn't do that; no, he was now defensive and not really trusting her.

"Because I was curious… I never saw anyone like you before. Scar – may I call you that? Please don't hate me for doing this, all I want is to know you." Blanché pleaded, but he sent her a look that meant he didn't know what to think of her. She followed him, like a shadow! Spying on him, he didn't like that thought at all. No, Scar chose to not welcome her with happy smiles right now.

"I don't hate you – but I don't like you either. What am I supposed to do? I have a life here, that I actually like. I don't need you here, a strange lioness from a pride that will never accept me. What do you think the hyenas will say? They usually don't like lions here…" he said, facing her with gloomy eyes. Blanché took a few steps backwards.

"Maybe it was a mistake then! I just wanted to find out who you were, and I came to like you… maybe my father was right anyway!" she now shouted back at him.

"I don't care, go or stay… I don't care!" Scar left her alone in the chamber; when he couldn't see the entrance any longer, he began to run. What was she doing here, why did she have to come? She was so beautiful, seemed so… sweet and soft, not like any other lioness he ever saw. He felt the tears in his eyes, this was too much for now. Although he tried, Scar was still nothing more than a young adult; with all the troubles that can cause in the mind.

x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x

"I'm going after him!" Zarafa jumped the few rocks down to the savannah, and looked up at the lions still standing there; but Kiara didn't like it at all. She still wondered why Scar had to run away like that. The queen sent a look to her mother.

"He is our future king, but I'm afraid he won't return on his own." Nalathari said with a calm voice. How could she be so calm?

"But it's the Shadowlands! We swore never to return…" Kiara said with a tear in her eye. Nalathari shook her head.

"To me it appears, as if that dark place holds the fate of the Pridelands. Always." She said, thinking of the many times they had come there – and how all the times, something strange had happened. The two lands were bound to each other, in a strange sort of balance. She smiled to herself, sensing that she had been talking too much with Rafiki lately. Zarafa still stood below them.

"Let her go, Kiara. Your mother is right… and no matter what…" Kovu knew he wouldn't finish that sentence, for his mate knew what it meant, and finished it.

"Love will find a way… I know…" Kiara looked at her daughter, and nodded. A short moment later, Zarafa was nowhere to be seen in the tall grass on the savannah. The queen turned around and went back to the cave – she had been spending most of her time here the last few weeks. Her son was missing, and he had gone to the place where his namesake died. Scar… why couldn't he have lived on? Sometimes she missed him; his compliments, his different and scarred body – even his arrogance she missed sometimes. Kiara forgot her thoughts, when Kovu entered the cave and laid down next to her, looking at her with worried eyes.

"I am sure everything is going to be just fine – really, what could happen in there? There are no outlanders, no dead kings, only foolish hyenas. Scar is more clever than them; if he wants to, he can leave." Kovu said with a smile, and licked her chin. But to Kiara, that was just the problem; did her son want to leave the hyenas? He knew his namesake had ruled them once, and she knew he tried to live up to that. And she still wondered why he had run away…


	11. the Dilemma

And the next chapter is finally up - things begin to tie around Scar, and Blanché; she just wants to be there... hope you like it! Please do review, as always... Atrice

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****Part 11 – the Dilemma**

Scar sat on the pedestal, trying to calm down. He looked over the hyenas – for whom he was the leader, their superior – and tried to think thoughts that would make sense. He was the leader… Scar was the king here! Not yet in the Pridelands, but here in the Shadowlands, he was the closest thing to a king they had. He jumped with a startle as someone suddenly poked him on the back. He let out a relieved sigh when he saw Duchess.

"Are you alright?" Duchess said with a caring voice and sat down next to him. He didn't seem alright to her, not at all. Something was wrong – she hoped he hadn't reconsidered his feelings for her. She had decided not to care about anyone else or their opinion on the matter; Duchess had experienced too many strange things in her life to let that happen.

"I don't know really… I feel I don't know anything anymore." Scar said with a sigh, feeling a longing to cry again. But not here, not in their presence.

"Scar, you are the future king of the Pridelands, and you are the leader here… And the inhabitants here love you, don't forget that. I… I love you." Duchess said the last with a whisper, and he turned his head to look at her.

"You have no idea what that means to me, right now. But I am thinking about returning to the Pridelands." Scar said with a sigh, and left the pedestal – Duchess knew he wanted her to follow him, he was in that mood.

"Is that what you really want?" Duchess asked while they walked towards his chamber.

"I don't know… all I know is that I went out to find a queen – and I found you. But now there is a dilemma... and you have to meet it." Scar said and the hyena walked a bit slower behind him. What did he mean by that? A problem she would meet? Duchess had a feeling about what it was, but didn't dare to guess.

x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x

Blanché looked down into the green flow of liquid in the chamber. She thought she saw a pair of green eyes stare back at her, and they didn't show happiness.

"You should return home…" she felt the fluid whisper, but it was quiet. Blanché didn't know what to do either. Perhaps Scar just needed to calm down, then he would treat her with kindness? He seemed like the type of lion, who could be really kind. The eyes stared at her with darkness in them. They didn't want her here. She shook her head – eyes in the liquids? She must be going crazy! Then she heard a sound outside the chamber, and Scar stood in the entrance. He didn't start speaking to her though, but to the hyena next to him.

"Duchess, this is Blanché… she followed me from the Skylands." Scar said and didn't look at any of them. The two females though, they caught each others eyes.

"But I thought you… wanted to be with me?" Duchess whispered to Scar, who nodded.

"If we are together, I shall never have cubs… no immortality, no future for my line. So you see, I don't know anything anymore." Scar explained to his fellow leader. Blanché tried to hear what they said, but they spoke in low voices.

"What are you going to do with me?" Blanché stood up and asked, finally able to catch Scars eyes. He had green eyes… deep, green eyes – like those she saw just before. But these eyes, she loved.

"I am going to let you stay. But you will not tell me anything about what to do, alright?" Scar said. Just as Blanché was about to answer, they heard someone else in the corridor.

"Royals! We have an intrud…" the hyena Al stopped in the entrance too, when he saw the light pelted lioness stand there. Duchess looked at him with a roll of her eyes.

"What were you saying?" she said with a smile.

"There's a lioness, asking for Scar!" Al stood and tripped for a moment; "Who's she?" he then asked, and both Scar and Duchess looked at each other with a grin.

"Another intruder – we allowed her to stay. Come… let's go see the other one." Duchess said, as calm as ever. Scar nodded and waved his head so that Blanché would follow too. She could see the irony of the situation; a hyena coming up, telling about another intruder – just as they were talking to one too. She walked behind the two leaders, and thought they made a strange couple; yet they seemed to match. What if the voice had spoken the truth – that she should return home?


	12. Things are not easy

**Part 12 – Things are not easy**

"I know he's here! Don't lie to me!" a lioness stood right below the pedestal in the great hall, surrounded by hyenas.

"We don't need to tell you anything!" the hyena Brize yelled back at her, moving closer to the lioness. "You should leave!"

"I am not leaving until I have seen him!" the lioness was stronger than Brize and knocked her over with her paw, but then the hyenas just moved closer. They didn't like her attitude at all. They were somewhat fighting, and didn't notice the two figures appearing on the platform in the great hall.

Scar smiled as he saw his sister down there – fighting the hyenas. It seemed just like thing she would do. He decided she should meet the lion he felt he had become, not the lion he had been.

"Stop it!" they all stopped and looked up to the pedestal, where the black-maned king of the hyenas stood; the lion who was their leader. Zarafa stared at him, first with disbelief, then she smiled. Her brother never lacked selfconfidence, but when she looked at him now, she saw he really was the superior one. He actually looked like a king, she even felt he really was a king, not just a prince. "What is going on?" Scar then asked.

"This lady thinks she can come and tell us what to do – about you!" Brize said, she now stood next to Al, who sent Zarafa an evil look.

"Really? Zarafa… what have you said to them?" Scar asked, still with his most untouchable and noble voice. The lioness in the hall knew it was her brother, but something was changed.

"I just… I said you have to come back. We miss you." Zarafa said, looking at him with pleading eyes. Was this the brother she knew at all? Then she thought she saw him smile, far up there. A few quick moments later, he stood down in the hall. It was time to stop the acting, and tell her the truth.

"Follow me…" Scar said to her, and together they left the great hall to speak.

x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x

Left on the pedestal was Duchess with Blanché behind her, just outside the little entrance. Duchess looked at the hyenas with a sigh.

"You don't want him to leave, right?" Blanché asked, uncertainly, and the hyena turned around.

"Not really… I know he belongs with them, but still… I like having him here." Duchess explained and left the platform. "So… Blanché from the Skylands. You know your father will hate you for this."

"I know, but I couldn't really stay behind. And I've come to like Scar, even though he didn't treat me nicely when we finally met." The white lioness said.

"He's just the type you can't hate, isn't he?" the hyena finally sent the lioness a smile. At least they had one thing in common.

x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x

"You left without even saying goodbye!" Zarafa said to him. She didn't mean to sound harsh, but it came out that way. He had hurt them all by leaving the way he did.

"She would never let me leave… and I have found a new home." Scar looked into a large chamber, glowing with the colors of fire.

"This is not a home… you can't live here forever. You are our future king!" his sister tried, but it seemed pointless right now. Scar went into the chamber and sniffed around. He didn't recognize this place, a chamber he didn't know. But then again, he hadn't lived there for so long yet.

"Don't you think I know that? Who are you to tell me what to do? I'm an adult now!" he said and stopped by a little pond filled with lava.

"Well, you certainly do not act like one!" Zarafa said, watching him stop his wandering. He shook his head with a sigh and turned towards her.

"Zarafa… I'm sorry. I just can't go back, not yet. Do you want to know why I left? Because the only lionesses I love in the pride, are my sisters. I have to find a queen, and I think I'm getting there." Scar said and went to the next little pond and stared into it.

"But… there's no lionesses here." Zarafa said, puzzled.

"Actually, there is – but I only just met her. And I don't know if I can love her… things are not easy anymore." The prince, or king, laid down next to the lava.

"If you would just come home…" Zarafa begged again.

"I can't… not without a queen. And I have to decide who – this is my future we talk about, the future of the pride. And I'm afraid my choice so far, does not do anything good for the pride." Scar had trouble explaining this to her. How could Zarafa understand, that he maybe loved a hyena? He remembered Kofi's words, about the highest and the lowest creature of the savannah.

"You speak in riddles, brother… Just tell me the truth – it's me, you sister. We could always tell each other everything." Zarafa laid down in front of him, facing him.

"If I choose Blanché – the lioness… the future of the pride is safe. Cubs and my heirs will be born. But the one care most about, is not like us. Her name is Duchess." He looked up into her eyes, and she understood, yet she didn't. She heard about Duchess from the other hyenas.

"But she's a hyena!" it burst out of Zarafa as she jumped up again in a restless way. She didn't want to believe this, it just wasn't right. They weren't even the same kind!

"My point exactly…" Scar said with a sigh and looked at her. Zarafa forgot her disbelief for a moment, and saw beyond it. What a dilemma he had put himself in, by coming here. And she wouldn't leave until she knew what he would do.


	13. A night with Blanché

It took a few days, but here is the next chapter. 13, which for some people is an unlucky number. Perhaps also unlucky for someone in this story... the chapter is a bit short, but I hope it's alright anyway. Please do review - Atrice...

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**Part 13 –A night with Blanché**

Scar had made his way to the top of the Shadowlands – under the stars. It wasn't warm up here, and it was windy and dry. But the moon was shining, and everything seemed so calm. He could see Pride Rock from here, and far in the other direction, a green plateau named the Skylands. And here he was, between them… between…

"Scar?" someone called and emerged from the same hole he came up through. Her light pelt became like silver in the moonlight.

"Blanché… what a nice surprise." Scar said, and actually it was. Everytime he saw her, he felt like his head was spinning around. Her beauty was breathtaking, and yet he couldn't decide if he liked her just for that, or if there was more.

"Zarafa said you went this way… it's nice to get some fresh air." Blanché said with a smile and sat down next to Scar.

"It is… I was just looking at the stars. Do you also believe that the great kings from the past are watching us?" Scar asked, and felt a shiver as he said that. The great kings from the past… his namesake was definetly watching him.

"I don't know… but I do believe someone are watching us." The lioness said, thinking about the voice telling her to leave; but she chose to ignore that. Blanché smiled to him. "but what a strange subject to discuss…" she looked around for a moment. "is that where you come from? The Pridelands?" she pointed towards Pride Rock. He nodded.

"That is where my family is… that is the country I will rule, when I am done here." Scar said with a smile. When he was done here… he sent a hidden glance to Blanché from his black mane.

"It looks beautiful from up here…" she whispered. Scar stopped himself before saying it to her; that she looked beautiful up here too. He didn't dare… but he didn't leave her either.

x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x

Duchess woke up alone on the pedestal the next morning. Where had he gone? Probably out with his sister to fetch something to eat, she thought. They did that yesterday too. The hyena liked Zarafa, she seemed like such a free spirit; and she didn't hide the fact, that she loved her brother. Duchess loved him too, and she knew Blanché did just the same. She smiled to herself; it must be hard to be surrounded only by females who wanted his attention all the time.

"Goodmorning… have you seen Scar?" Zarafa appeared in the opening to the platform.

"No, I thought he was with you…" Duchess got up and went through the entrance, which was, of course, also the exit. The two different females left each other soon, in search of the lion. Duchess went to look the first place she thought about; the chamberScar called his own. She slowed down when she came nearer, since she heard voices.

"We better get up…" it was a female, and no mistake about who it was; no other females had such a soft and sweet voice.

"Yeah, I should find… my fellow leader." Scar answered, not with a happy voice.

"Why are you with her anyway? She is not made for you." The voice of Blanché said. Duchess went into hiding behind some rocks, as she continued to listen.

"What do you know about that? I asked you never to tell me what to do…" the voice of Scar became louder, he was clearly annoyed by what the lioness just said. At least that was a good sign, Duchess thought.

"Scar, we just… I mean, you could never do with her, what you just… you know." The female was flirting, but the prince didn't answer her with a flirting voice.

"That's not what I meant… you're lovely, Blanché, but something is still not right. I'll go find Duchess, have a good day – and thanks for the night." Scar appeared from his chamber, and went towards the great hall. Duchess stayed behind the rocks for a long time, not sure what to think. So Scar and Blanché had spent the night together, and it made the hyena feel really bad inside. Why had he done that? When he knew Duchess loved him, and he clearly showed the same feelings for her. Blanché on the other paw, was right too; they could never make love. Scar had said to Duchess, that with her, he would never have cubs, and that was true too. She saw Blanché leave the chamber too, a happy smile on her face. It didn't make the hyenasmile though.Right now, Duchess couldn't see a happy ending to this at all.


	14. Love is never wrong

**Part 14 – Love is never wrong**

Scar found the pedestal empty, and sat down there alone. He didn't want to hurt Duchess, he never meant to do that. He never meant to hurt anyone, but he didn't want Blanché to think she 'got him' – not so fast anyway. He didn't love Blanché – she was a beautiful lioness, and had other very good abilities too. But she wasn't what he was looking for. Why couldn't things just be easy? While he was lost in the thoughts, he felt someone watching him, and turned around.

"Duchess…" he whispered as he saw her. He felt guilty, he felt bad about what he did. Why did he spend the night with Blanché? She made him feel better while they were together, but today he felt even worse than the day before. Duchess didn't answer him, but he could tell what she was thinking. She knew what had happened, and he knew he hurt her. He left the platform and went to her, tried to give her a warm cuddle with his head. But she moved away. "I'm really sorry…" Scar tried, almost not able to stand the sadness he saw in her eyes.

"I know… Scar, what is going to happen? What about us?" Duchess turned her head away, she didn't want him to see the tear in the corner of her eye.

"Honestly? I don't know… do we have a future together? Do you see it?" Scar asked her, and she caught his eyes again.

"Yes, I see it… perhaps not the happy and romantic future, but I do see it. Love is never wrong, Scar." She said, and with that, he realized something. Scar had often heard his parents talk about their own strange love; how love would always find a way. Kovu said, that love was never wrong, and would never die. He had told his son about the troubles he and Kiara had; first they belonged to different prides, but they found each other. Then the now late Scar came into the picture, stirring things up again. But in the end, their love hadn't died; it had just grown into something new. The young Scar understood, that he shouldn't care about what went on, he should listen to what he really felt inside.

"You're right, Duchess… you're absolutely right! Come…" Scar smiled and began to run. For a moment the hyena understood nothing, but then she ran after him. They spent the rest of the day together, in a chamber far from everything. Mostly they just talked, and smiled to each other. Happy smiles, and Scar had decided not to care anymore. He forgot all about what happened that night.

x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x

While this happened, Zarafa had made her way to another chamber, where Blanché still lay. She had been sleeping, and now she was just thinking about things – for she hadn't forgotten last night at all; and she had a plan now. The white lioness smiled when she saw Zarafa enter.

"Do you know where Scar is?" his sister asked.

"I don't know where he is now – but I know that he cares about me, at least a little. I think things are finally going to be better, although he won't admit it." Blanché stood up, she looked so calm and suddenly also happy. She had decided with herself, that the way Scar acted in the morning, was just because he was tired. Their night had been perfect, and he had shown her true affection.

"Won't admit what?" Zarafa asked, suspiciously.

"That he wants me to be his queen… would anyone spend a night with someone, if they didn't care at all? And that hyena… she can't expect anything from him. I mean, she can't even give birth to his cubs." Blanché said, a bit arrogantly, but smiled.

"You're not the first lioness he had… so don't put anything into that." Zarafa didn't trust Blanché in this, she knew it was much more complicated than that. She had seen how Duchess and Scar looked at each other, although she still found it wrong somehow.

"I'm definetly the one who gave him most pleasure." The other lioness just said with a very self-assured grin and walked around Zarafa a few times. "We'll have cubs, I just know…"

"One night doesn't change the world…" said Scars sister and left Blanché alone again. She didn't really like what the white lioness was up to; she shouldn't believe something that might not be true.

x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x

Zarafa wandered the corridors, not really searching for Scar anymore. Although she had been here a week by now, it was still a huge place to explore. She came to an entrance leading to bright and warm sunlight. It almost hurt her eyes, so she stayed in the shadow just inside the opening. She was looking out into a dry valley, when she saw something moving out there. It was a lion, walking slowly – sometimes sniffing to the ground where he walked. Soon he stood only a few meters away from the cliff, and Zarafa crept deeper into the shadow near the wall. The male lion seemed very majestic and noble; his pelt was almost white. Before she thought about anything else, she thought about how she liked his strange light colors. He looked like a true… a real male! Zarafa liked what she saw, but made sure he didn't see her. The lion, who had to be related to Blanché, looked back from where he came – then he went into the Shadowlands. Carefully and as silent as possible, Zarafa followed the new lion.


	15. Kofi has arrived

**Part 15 - Kofi has arrived**

It was the morning after, when Scar woke up next to Duchess. She nestled against him, looking more peaceful than ever. Of course they hadn't done what Scar did with Blanché – but right now, that was not important. While he lay there, looking at the hyena, he thought up a plan for his future. If everything went right… everything would be good in the end.

"Scar!" he heard a distant call for him, and carefully he moved away from Duchess, who didn't wake up at all. Silently he left the chamber. He heard the call again, and soon felt the scent of his sister in the air.

"Zarafa… what is it?" Scar asked with a calm look on his face, as they walked towards the great hall together. Zarafa seemed to be in a hurry, and she also seemed nervous.

"There is someone here… I don't know who he is, but he doesn't seem very friendly – not towards the hyenas anyway." Zarafa said with a sigh. Scar didn't understand what she said.

"Another lion? What happened?" he asked, and she slowed down; they were almost there.

"He is huge, and very… powerful. They are all frightened. I know, he's just one lion, but he has already… you're the king, you better see for yourself." They stood just near one of the lower entrances to the great hall, and stole a look into it. The hyenas all sat staring up at the pedestal – or they didn't stand up all of them. In the middle several hyenas lay down, and didn't appear to be moving at all. Scar ran in there, confused. Brize lay there among the others… definetly dead!

"Aha! Welcome, Scar!" a voice sounded from the platform, and Scar looked up; into the freezing cold eyes belonging to Kofi.

"You're insane, you know that, right!" Scar roared against him. This was his land, at least for now – and the other lion had nothing to do here. It was already clear, that he killed the hyenas.

"So you say, but it is not me, who mingle with hyenas! Where's my daughter!" Kofi said and jumped down to the floor, facing Scar. He was still taller than the young prince and king.

"I have no idea… and she has every right to be here, something you haven't! You exiled Duchess…" Scar growled.

"I did so, and what is wrong about that? Hyenas and lions shouldn't be friends, they just don't match… where is your hyena mate anyway?" Kofi continued, arrogantly.

"I am telling you nothing!" Scar moved closer – he was more than ready for a fight now. The hyenas slowly moved to the walls of the great hall, sensing what would happen; a few of them dragged their dead friends away too. Kofi roared so it echoed throughout the great hall and beyond, and made a move to jump at Scar; who was quick, and moved away – although he tried to hit the white lion while doing so, but he missed.

"Father!" Blanché suddenly stood in another entrance, the official one. Kofi turned his head towards his daughter.

"You're alright! You never know what…" he was thrown over by Scar, who didn't move his eyes from the lioness either.

"Don't speak to her!" Scar said with a low growl, and Blanché entered the hall.

"What are you doing? Why are you fighting… Scar?" she looked from her father to the lion with the black mane. Requiring the answer from Scar, not Kofi.

"Because he has no right to be here… he is a murderer, Blanché. Don't you see it?" Scar nodded towards the hyenas, and she saw the dead among them too.

"He is still my father…" Blanché helped her father up again, and placed herself between the two angry male lions.

"Are you coming with me then?" Kofi asked his daughter.

"No… I belong with Scar…" She said. Scar was confused again. She really wanted to be with him, although she should know he didn't love her at all. He tried to make it clear the day before. Blanché stood between them, still preventing another fight.

"He is not meant for you… I am not leaving until I can take you with me." Kofi said, determined.

None of them noticed Zarafa, who had watched it all from the small portal to the hall. She wanted all this to be right, but how could it be? Scar was right, the white lion was a murderer. But still she knew, that he wouldn't let his daughter go so easiliy. In her mind, Zarafa wanted Scar to be with Blanché; they were lions, they matched. But in her heart, she knew that his heart wasn't with the light pelted lioness. Zarafa had a great deal of thoughts running through her mind, before she left the entrance, and found the way towards the Pridelands. She remembered their old shaman, Rafiki. He would know what to do.


	16. Daughter of the murderer

**Part 16 – Daughter of the murderer**

It was so green outside the hard walls of the dark Shadowlands. Zarafa stood there for a second, just breathing the fresh air of the Pridelands again. The smell of grass and the blue sky far above her. Luckily, the old tree where Rafiki lived, wasn't far from here. She had often gone there to pick up Nalathari, who spent more and more time with the monkey. Zarafa arrived, and found the place quiet – at least on the outside. She had no idea how you got into the tree, except for from the top; and she couldn't climb trees.

"Rafiki? Are you there? It's Zarafa…" the lioness called, but there came no reply. "Rafiki?" she tried again. Everything was quiet, it was like the world stood still just here, around this tree. Zarafa looked towards the Pride Rock. He had to be there then, where else could the shaman have gone?

"Rafiki has joined the kings of the past…" a familiar voice sad, and the young lioness turned around to see Nalathari appear from the tall grass; coming from the home of the lions.

"No…" Zarafa whispered, and turned around again to look at the tree. But it was true, the place had never seemed so silent before. Not even a whisper in the leaves on the tree, or the grass on the savannah just near her. She sat down with a sigh. "…then everything is lost…"

"Lost? It's the circle of life, Zarafa. What happened, please tell me…" Nalathari sat down next to her granddaughter, looking at her with a calm smile. So Zarafa told her the entire story, of everything that happened in the Shadowlands since she arrived.

"How can the circle of life be fullfilled? Scar loves one, he can't have cubs with, and is loved by someone he does not love… who is the daughter of a murderer…" she said.

"That's not her fault, she didn't choose her father… Zarafa, one of the last things Rafiki told me, was that you would never return to Pride Rock again. I think you have a greater part to play in this - talk to him, the white lion. You may be the youngest of your siblings, but you also bear the destiny of the Pridelands." Nalathari put a paw on the shoulder of Zarafa, assuring her she was telling the truth.

"Never return? I don't see how everything can be good… and how can I talk sense into Kofi's mind? The lion is mad!" she tried, but Nalathari just smiled – making the three old scars across her eye seem beautiful in a strange way.

x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x

"He is dark, Blanché! Your name is the opposite!" Kofi wandered back and forth in a cave they had found together, to discuss the matters of everything.

"I don't care! I love him, and I can't leave him now… not since…" Blanché stopped, looking down to the ground. Since the night she spent with Scar. It wasn't long ago, but she just knew it; she would have his cubs, if he wanted it or not. She would follow him, no matter what.

"Since when? You didn't… disgrace yourself with him? You did! Blanché, have you never heard a word of what I told you!" Kofi roared, and if she hadn't known her father and jumped away quickly, his paw would have sent her across the chamber anyway. She looked up at him.

"You're mad, they're right! What is so wrong with not looking like everyone else? What is so wrong with loving someone that's different from yourself?" she asked, feeling a strange thunder inside her.

"So you say that the fact, that that… socalled lion loves a hyena, is alright? He do not deserve being called the same as us!" Kofi growled, not caring if anyone heard him. Blanché only thought about it for a few seconds, something suddenly cleared in her mind.

"Yes, I say that is alright! Love is always right… hatred is wrong, the hatred you contain…" she said, standing up in her full height, showing him she wasn't afraid anymore.

"You are… insane! A lion, and a hyena? You are not my daughter anymore, all you deserve is to…" but Kofi was knocked over, and Blanché only saw a quick flash of something grey against the white pelt of her father. He was quick to push the creature off him, but it only jumped up again towards his throat. Blanché tried to figure out who… but she couldn't believe it.

"Duchess? Duchess! What are you doing!" she then screamed. It made the hyena look away for a second, long enough to for Kofi to send her towards the wall, which she hit with a loud bump, thenshe fell down.

"You still defend him? He wanted to kill you!" Duchess said, slowly getting to her paws again. Blanché felt her eyes fill with tears, as she realized the truth of what the hyena just told her. Her own father would have killed her, if it hadn't been for this strange hyena. What did she deserve, daughter of the murderer? Without another word, she left the chamber… feeling he had the right to kill her. Did she deserve the friendship of Duchess; to love Scar?


	17. Tension in the dark

**Part 17 – Tension in the dark**

Duchess looked up at Kofi, who stood still in the other end of the chamber. He had just experienced a hyena defending his daughter, who had now left him.

"Leave!" he then roared at Duchess, not feeling up to anything right now - not even fighting and killing a hyena.

"I shall… leave you all alone, Kofi – for that is what you are now, right? All alone…" Duchess walked slowly towards the opening to the cave. With another roar he ran after her, just as she expected, but she quickly left him alone; like she said she would. He had never liked her, he was so different from his father; who took in a motherless hyena young, and raised it among his own cubs. Makingthe heir of the thronefeel strange about the hyena, who often got more attention than himself. Like _he_ wasn't something special either…

x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x

It had become night again, and Scar had gone to the top of the Shadowlands, watching the stars. With a sigh he looked towards the Pride Rock.

"What is it, that you want me to do? Scar? Tell me…" Scar said, then suddenly feeling the wind blow up around him. Dust and dry grass wrestled loose from the ground, but there came no answer. Why wouldn't the late king speak to him? "Just give me a sign!" he called into the silence. Then he suddenly heard a noise behind him, and turned around to meet the eyes of Blanché…

"Oh… sorry…" she was about to go back down again. Scar noticed how the wind went quiet again, how everything settled down. He had asked for a sign…

"Don't leave… Blanché, come to me…" Scar said, and slowly she came to his side.

"Why do you want me? You don't love me… I should leave." Blanché said, but Scar just caught her eyes again. He saw how the area around her eyes was red, and wet. Carefully he licked her eyes clean.

"No, you should stay here… although you're right in what you just said, I don't want you to leave either. In fact, I've been thinking…" Scar said, but suddenly he realized he was handling this in the wrong way. "Blanché, why have you been crying?"

"I am fatherless now… Kofi said I wasn't his daughter anymore… just because I said that loving someone different than yourself, wasn't wrong. It isn't, love is never wrong, Scar…" she said, fighting the tears again. She shouldn't cry here, not in front of him. "Are you making fun of me!" she suddenly shouted, seeing how Scars face had brightened up in a grin.

"Blanché, you have no idea… I really want you to stay. Please, will you stay?" he then said, not able to hide his smile.

"What do you mean? I have no idea about what?" she said through her tears, moving away from him. Scar stood up and followed her, trying to catch her. "No!" Blanché disappeared downinto the darkness again, leaving Scar alone. But she had no idea what she just said to him, what those words meant to him. His parents always said it. Even Duchess had said it – and now Blanché too. He knew what was right to do now, and he knew it was possible.

x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x

With a heavy sigh, Zarafa put the Pridelands and Nalathari behind her; going into the Shadowlands again. It was quiet this late in the evening, yet she felt tension in the dark. Something had happened while she was gone, and something would happen. She had been sent out to solve this, alone. Zarafa entered the great hall, but didn't find Scar and Duchess there. Kofi was gone, and so was Blanché. Just the hyenas lay around on the floor, only half asleep; they didn't dare to fall into dreams, after the great white lion murdered their friends. She puffed to a hyena near the pedestal.

"Psst… do you know where Kofi is?" she whispered.

"Kofi? What do you want with him? Insanity…" the hyena answered with a tired voice, but she didn't give up that easily.

"It's very important… do you know, please." Zarafa said.

"He left with that daughter of his… think they found somewhere to talk, haven't seen anyone since." The hyena rolled onto the other side, away from the lioness. She ventured out into the corridors, searching for some chamber. They hadn't gone to Scars chamber, and not the one that glowed red either. She checked every cave she remembered. Zarafa was about to enter a smaller chamber, but turned around. That chamber, on the other side… she felt like going there, and here sat a white lion, all alone.

"Kofi?" Zarafa stood in the entrance, and he looked up.

"Who're you? Related to Scar, I guess by your colour!" Kofi said with a low growl, but wondered what she was doing there.

"Scar is my brother, that is true -but that doesn't mean I'm attached to him, always. The name is Zarafa..." The lioness entered, and he stood up on all four, almost towering above her. He really was huge!

"I see… and what do you want with me?" he asked with a noble yet arrogant voice, and she straightened up too. Caught his eyes, she knew what to do now. There was only one way out of this. She took a deep breath and stepped one paw forward, making herself seem more dignified too.

"I want to… to bargain." Zarafa said, only making him more curious. She appeared wiser than her brother, more reflective than his own daughter. He only wondered, what she wanted to bargain with and about.


	18. Truths

Dear readers, I am very sorry for the long time it took me to update! Christmas and a stupid exam took up all my time and mind, so I haven't really been able to concentrate on fanfiction. But here is the next chapter, finally. Things are beginning to tighten up, and still there are things that need to be solved... hope you like it; please do review - Atrice

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**Part 18 – Truths**

"So you want to bargain? And what could you possibly have to bargain with?" Kofi asked the young lioness in front of him.

"I have what every lioness have to bargain with…" Zarafa said with a strange smile, which the white lion didn't quite understand. He understood the meaning of her words, but not her smile. What did she want from him, since she were willing to give up herself to him?

"Interesting, but why would I want you? You… you're dark." Kofi turned around and walked a bit back and forwards in the cave – there was something about this lioness. "What do you want in return?" he finally asked, and she looked out in the corridor, then turned her eyes back on him.

"To leave Scar, Duchess and the hyenas alone – and Blanché too." She explained, and he stopped his pacing back and forwards, looked at her. Since Zarafa didn't hear an answer, she continued: "What is so bad about being different? I'm dark, you're white - we're still lions, both of us."

"But we're not alike! It would never work!" Kofi tried, feeling for the first time, that he didn't have a good answer.

"Who then, is Blanchés mother? Your pride will die, if you don't let new blood in every now and again. If every lion thought like you, there wouldn't be a sane one left…" she jumped a few steps back, as she saw him move fast towards her. Maybe she chose the wrong words – but it was the truth. He stopped again, watching her. She seemed like a strong and firm lioness, one you couldn't just leave behind. She could handle things herself, yet she didn't like him acting so superiorly towards her. Somewhere inside, she was afraid of him. Kofi smiled.

"Alright, I will think about it." He said and with a paw he waved towards the entrance; asking her to leave. Slowly she left the cave, but just before she was gone, she turned around to look at him. Something told her, that he actually told the truth; he would think about it.

x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x

Meanwhile, in the Pridelands, on Pride Rock… Nalathari had returned, breaking whatever news she had to Kovu and Kiara. She had told them, that Scar would return, but he wasn't done with what he set out to do yet. She told them, that Zarafa would never return.

"Why did you let her leave!" Kovu said, pacing back and forwards in the royal cave.

"Because Rafiki…" Nalathari tried, but he didn't let her finish.

"The old monkey is dead, and won't need to guide anyone anymore! Especially not my cubs – I want them all to be here. Also Zarafa!" the king looked at his queen, who sat on the small pedestal where they usually slept. She didn't say anything.

"So, you want her to live here forever – what if she wants cubs? She could never have them, if she stayed. She has a destiny away from the Pridelands! And don't you speak bad about Rafiki, Kovu! He gave you and Kiara Upendi – without that, your cubs wouldn't even be here…" Nalathari stopped, catching her breath. She suddenly felt tired… old. Kovu looked down, his face showing guilt. Firstly, she was aged and had gotten wisdom with that. He also knew she was telling the truth, but didn't like it. They had lived so happily in so many years, and now all this.

"Kovu?" Kiara suddenly said into the profound silence that had appeared. He looked at his queen. "If Zarafa won't return, so be it. You know the Shadowlands better than me – please go, and find our son; with or without a queen, as long as he returns. Scar must be king…" she said, thinking about his namesake. Scar would be king, honouring his family and the late king he was named after.

x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x

Scar woke up below the clear blue sky, and a warm sun heating him up. In fact, it swiftly heated him up a little bit too much and too fast, so he quickly moved down to the shadow. While Scar walked towards the great hall – not in any hurry though – he thought about the idea he got yesterday. Hyenas and lions could be together, he was sure of that. They hadn't turned their back on him, he had treated them with respect, and got just that in return. If only he could find Duchess, and Blanché for that matter. Could they even speak against his idea? They shouldn't speak against it, for he was the king here and the future king of the Pridelands. He was the king! And the king found the pedestal in the great hall empty. Scar was just about to leave the place again, when a hyena down there stood up.

"Hey, Scar!" the hyena called, and he turned around again.

"Yes?" the king in him promptly returned on request from a follower.

"What is going on? What is going to happen to us?" the hyena asked, and Scar nodded. They had the right to know it, and he ventured down from the pedestal to stand among them.

"Everything will be fine – it may not seem like it right now, but I am sure we can deal with the… white lion problem." Scar tried, but the hyena called Al stepped forward.

"That's not just it! What about Duchess? We hardly ever see her anymore either! And you'll leave too!" Al said and the rest of the hyenas mumbled something similar afterwards. Scar nodded.

"I am sure it will work out… I can't leave this life behind, it's mine too now. Somehow I see the dawning of a new era… where…where lions and hyenas come together!" Scar noticed himself raising his voice as he said it, and the hyenas went calm as they listened. He noticed how the entire great hall went quiet, a strange stilness settled down upon them all. Scar looked up and saw light shine through a hole up there, and followed the light to where it hit the wall. He thought he saw the light form two eyes… two green eyes now, smiling at him. Scar bowed to the eyes with respect, then looked up again. "I am your king – for good!" he promised the hyenas, and left the great hall to find a female hyena and a very light pelted lioness.


	19. The Argument

**Part 19 – The Argument**

Kofi wondered what he should do now. He had been thinking all night, hadn't had any sleep at all. He couldn't decide, if Zarafa was right, and his Skylands needed a change – or if it was all better, if nothing changed at all. Who was Blanchés mother, she had asked about that… why did everyone think so much about things? Why couldn't things just be unchanged, the same, not different? Kofi decided to find Zarafa, and went towards the entrance to the cave.

"Looking for me?" Zarafa suddenly stood in front of him, and he nodded with a little gasp. He hadn't expected her to be there.

"Indeed I was – and I will leave the Shadowlands and its residents alone, if you follow me. But you will stay at my lands for good, I don't want another spot on my pride." Kofi explained with a noble voice.

"I expected that…" they both sounded very royal to each other. "May I say goodbye to my brother?" she asked.

"I'll go towards the valley – you come as soon as possible." Kofi began to walk, with Zarafa staring after him.

"What about your daughter, Blanché?" she called.

"I don't know her anymore!" he just yelled back, didn't turn around. Zarafa nodded with a sigh, she wished for everyone to be happy. But at least she made sure her brother wasn't bothered by white kings anymore, and perhaps she would have cubs one day herself?

x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x

Scar hadn't found anyone on his search, not a light pelted lioness or a hyena. With hanging ears, he returned to the great hall and laid down on the pedestal.

"There you are!" the voice of Duchess reached him just as his head lay down on the paws, and he jumped up, smiled as he saw her just outside the portal. "It's been days!" she said, and they almost ran into each other, rubbing and cuddling each other when they met. Then she moved a step back and looked at him. "You really mean it, don't you?"

"Mean what?" Scar asked, puzzled.

"That you love me." Duchess said with a smile.

"How could it be different – we are not alike, but we are meant to be. That's how I feel in my heart, after all…" Scar rubbed his head against her neck, but she gently pushed him away.

"There's something we need to talk about, Scar… and you know what, don't you?" she said. He was almost sure, but waited for her to tell him. "Blanché…"

"I know… I have found a way to make everything be perfect! You know, in a pride of lions, there's the king, and his queen, and then the other lionesses… he'll have the heir to the throne with his queen, but he can be with the others too…" he tried to explain, sounding very sure of himself, but noticed that it all came out in a rather nervous way. Perhaps because of the wondering look on Duchess' face?

"I am not sure if I…" she began.

"You will be my queen! And Blanché will be my second queen… you will be the love, and she will be the… lust." He said before she could finish. She didn't smile at him anymore. He noticed a tear in the corner of her eye. "You don't like it?" she shook her head.

"What did you expect? It's all or nothing Scar… I don't want to be jealous forever, because you have another queen to bear your cubs! I don't want to be afraid forever, if you love her more, because she gave you an heir – something I can never do. You say we're meant to be, but I don't believe you, when you suggest things like that!" she tried to keep the tears back, but it wouldn't help.

"I will always love you the most… I don't love Blanché…" he said with a low voice.

"But you want to be with her anyway!" Duchess took a few steps away, like she was disgusted.

"I just want to make her happy too… it's not her fault, that she's in love with someone who can't return the feelings." Scar didn't realize, how different his was from his namesake – wanting everyone to be happy. "Please stay, it's you I…"

"Really? It's me you want but… no, I can't understand a word of what you're saying. I love you Scar!" she sobbed.

"Love will find a way, remember?" he felt nothing worked anymore. Perhaps he should just stop the conversation… no, the argument.

"Right… then find the way for it! Just not that way…" she could take it no more, and went away.

"Duchess, come back!" he was tired with this, why wouldn't she listen? His idea had been perfect… he walked around himself a few times, then stared down at her again – she was moving downwards on the rocks, away from him. "Duchess!" Scar called, and she stopped.

"Find out what you really want, please… I can't take it much longer!" she managed to yell at him, and then she disappeared behind a corner.

Scar sat down with a sigh, not daring to go back to the pedestal. The entire great hall must have heard this… he heard something move out of his sight, and looked that way. Zarafa turned up from the shadow.

"Scar… what was that about?" she asked in a scared whisper. Was it right for her to leave anyway?

"It's just… oh, I don't know… females!" he said, and she nodded.

"Yap, we can be so weird! So weird, that we're leaving the Pridelands for good." She said, and he looked at her.

"I am returning…" he said. With a sad smile she rubbed her head against his, a last sign of the love she felt for her brother. Zarafa suddenly felt like she had become several years older, in these weeks she had been living here.

"The days when we had rushes of meat are gone… I am not returning, this is the last time you see me – don't ask where, just promise me that you won't hurt those hearts anymore than you already did." She said, and he looked at her with a weird look on his face, then nodded. He didn't know what to say, and she understood.


	20. Advice from a father

**Part 20 – Advice from a father**

"Well, ain't that just great!" the somewhat high voice of a male hyena could be heard in the dark. Kovu stopped – he couldn't see a thing, but the echo from his steps, told him where the walls were.

"Who's there?" he asked, and thought he saw a pair – no, several – of eyes stare at him in the darkness. Where did the light in them come from? Hyena eyes…

"All we want is to be left alone, but two lions leave – just so another can appear!" the hyena came closer and puffed to him. "And since you're the guest, tell us your name first!"

"I am Kovu, king of the Pridelands… I have come for my son and daughter, Scar and Zarafa." He said, and several hyenas began to laugh their strange cackling grins.

"Really? Well, I am Al, and for now, I control the borders to our lands! Zarafa… ha! She's not right in the head, is she? I wonder if Scar is too… come with us." Al turned around and began to walk, and Kovu followed the sound of their steps. What had happened in here? What did he mean, Zarafa was a clever and mature lioness – and Scar could handle things too… he was, after all, their future king. Finally Kovus eyes had to get used to light again, but strange light, in a great hall. He remembered how Zira had shown him where Scar once reigned – this was the throne-room. But the pedestal up there was empty.

"So? Where are they?" Kovu asked, while all the hyenas who gathered here, stood up and sent him curious glances. He heard them whisper.

"It's cute, isn't it? Their father, coming to get them… I have no idea where they are, or at least Scar." Al said – he appeared to be the hyena with most power around here. He looked somewhat familiar, didn´t he? Banzai… a lot of things came back to Kovu in here.

"Stop joking, and tell me what I need to know!" the king finally roared, making them all quiet.

"There there, no need to be upset! We had enough of that… what you need to know, eh?" Al looked around at the other hyenas, missing Brize a bit. She was better at these things, than him. But at least he had seen the white lion leave the Shadowlands, followed by Zarafa. She had to be crazy, leaving with him; but then again, he didn't know her reasons. That she was the reason he left.

"Al? What's going on?" someone spoke from the pedestal, and Kovu also turned his head that way. A somewhat more light grey female hyena, stood up there.

"We got a visitor! Kovu, father of Scar, came to get him! Maybe you know where he is?" Al took a step forward.

x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x

Duchess was glad that the platform was so high. They couldn't see her sad face, although she tried to hide it. Kovu? Scar had told about his father… how his mother and father invented the words 'love is never wrong, and so it never dies'. But she didn't dare to tell him about the love she felt for his son. She took a deep breath before answering him.

"In fact, no… I haven't seen him since… since yesterday. Maybe he's in his own chamber?" Duchess said to them, knowing they heard the heartbreak in her voice. At least the hyenas did, she didn't know if Kovu could hear it; he didn't know what happened.

"You could show him?" Al asked, but Duchess shook her head.

"You do that – if Scar wants to see me, he has to find me. I won't go his way, unless he really wants me to. Al, please show Kovu where Scar spends some of his time." Duchess tried to sound noble, but sighed with relief as they left the great hall. She laid down on the pedestal, watching her peers. She couldn't leave them behind anyway, could she?

x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x

"Scar! You have a guest!" Al bowed to his king, letting Kovu walk past him into the chamber – lit by green steams and smokes. Scar looked up from where he lay, watching a small stream of the green liquid flow in a corner.

"Father!" Scar jumped up when he saw who had come. "What are you doing here?"

"Kiara misses you… I think we all do. Please come home, leave this… place behind." Kovu made his appeal as only a father could do it.

"I can't, not yet… but soon, maybe." Scar said and moved closer to his father. He realized how he himself had grown while being here; he was taller than Kovu now, but also slimmer. He hadn't missed food here, but he hadn't rushed in it either.

"What is keeping you here? Those hyenas? The only sane one seems to be their leader." Kovu said and noticed how his son seemed to make a low whimper by that sentence. Why?

"I know… that at least, I know. Father, how do you know what is right to do?" he sat down with a sigh, somewhat happy that Kovu had come. He could help him.

"Right to do about what? I have a feeling everything is not right here…" the father said with a strange voice, actually sounding a bit frightened.

"About… love? How do you know, what is right to do? How did you know, that you should stay and be with Kiara?" Scar ignored the fright in Kovus voice. But Kovu suddenly smiled, when he heard the reason of what it was all about – just love…

"That is what is troubling you? You follow your heart, son… your heart knows what is right to do. If you truly love someone, you know it deep inside… you will do whatever they ask, stick together through everything. Who is the lucky girl?" Kovu asked, now very curious. So Scar was in love… finally, maybe he would return with a queen!

"I can't really tell you… but is that true? And you should stay with the one you love, no matter if you hurt someone else who cares too?"

"That was what Rafiki said to me and Kiara. You won't be happy unless you do so… Zira loved me, in her own strange way – but I went against her, to be with your mother." Kovu explained to his son, who nodded.

"Then that is how it must be… will you stay here? I have someone I need to talk to…" Scar smiled an unsecure smile to his father, and left him alone in the cave. Kovu could only wonder, who the future queen might be, and why it had been troubling Scar so much.


	21. Unchangeable love

So, here the next chapter is... rewritten a few times, now I am satisfied. Hope my readers are too!

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**Part 21 – Unchangeable love**

Duchess couldn't sleep… not this day, and not the day before either. She thought about many things she could do – she could go to Kofi, let him put her to rest. She could starve. What was the point with living, if nobody dared to love you? She knew the life of a hyena was a life where the leader was usually a female, with sisters and females as her allies, and the males could only be used for hunting or helping the females have youngs. But she hadn't been brought up by hyenas – she had lived with a pride of lions, until she was mature, and Kofi had been the same…

"Duchess?" her row of thoughts was interrupted, when she heard Scar speak with a low voice behind her. It wasn't a happy voice, it was a voice with the sound of regret in it.

"What do you want with me?" Duchess asked, trying to sound as if she could care less. She didn't dare to stand up and turn around, face him.

"I want to say I'm sorry… I should never have said those things yesterday. Please, look at me…" Scar begged, and she finally turned around. "Duchess, if you still love me, even after yesterday…" he began, and she tried to listen beyond the words – could she bear what he would say?

"I do… that is a thing, I'm afraid I can't change about me." Duchess said with a nervous smile to him, and he nodded with relief.

"I was afraid you lost all respect for me… I have decided to tell my father, that I am not returning to Pride Rock. I belong here, with you – and that's my final words on that matter." The last words were spoken with both pride and nobility; and love. "Will you come with me, to tell him?"

x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x

Kovu sat in the cave, when he heard someone move outside the entrance.

"Scar… already back?" he said, but then he saw a beautiful white lioness emerge from the dark, entering the chamber. He was stunned – was this the love Scar spoke about?

"Goodday… my name is Blanché; you must be Scars father?" she said.

"Yes, I am Kovu… I think he is looking for you." Kovu manged to say with a smile. But who could be hurt, if he brought this beauty back to the pride? Except for the other lionesses from the pride, who also liked Scar…

"You think so? I don't… he wants me, but then again, he won't…" Blanché said and looked out, thought she heard someone walk in the darkness. Someone talking, sometimes laughing happy laughs.

"What do you mean? Scar said he loved someone, and he would go and find her. As far as I know, there are no other lionesses here…" Kovu said, and Blanché shook her head.

"There isn't… but he doesn't love me. I don't know where else to go, I'm sorry." She said, but Kovu didn't understand the meaning of her words.

"I wouldn't worry about welcoming you in our pride." The king said with a noble nod, and she tried to smile, but he saw the sadness behind the smile. He still wondered what had been going in these shadowed lands.

x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x

Before she could answer him, Scar and Duchess entered the little chamber. Their smiles disappeared when they saw Blanché. Kovu looked at them all with a puzzled look. "Scar, what is going on here? You said you had found love, yet Blanché here tells me you don't love her?"

"She is telling the truth…" Scar took a few steps towards Blanché, looked her in the eyes. "It would never have worked between us, Blanché, I'm sorry." Scar said, making his father more and more confused. All were surprised to see, that the lioness' first reaction was a nod – not a happy one, but a nod that accepted the facts.

"I know, I guess I just still had a hope… but what will you do then?" Blanché answered, and looked at Duchess with eyes that showed respect. She had accepted Scars choice.

"That was why we came… father, I have decided to stay here, in the Shadowlands. I won't return, unless I am coming to visit you all." Scar said. He was having problems with telling his father what the reason was.

"Why? You'll break Kiaras heart!" Kovu almost roared, bewildered and confused. Scar looked at Duchess, who smiled at him – a smile to let him know, she was by his side. The smile gave him the self-confidence he needed.

"I want you to meet Duchess, queen of the hyenas. She is my queen too, and I want to stay here with her. I belong here." Scar said, sounding like the king he had become. Kovu sat down with a bump, staring at his son with disbelief.

"I'm sorry, I don't think I heard right… you said… that a hyena is your queen, your mate!" Kovu said with scepticism.

"She is not just 'a hyena', she is the one I love! And nobody can change that. I am king of the hyenas now, and I know this is the right place for me." He said, but saw his father still looked confused, and got an idea. What he had told the hyneas the day before, about lions and hyenas! He continued; "…and with me here, Kiana must be the next queen of the Pridelands – together we will lead these lands into a new era, where hyenas and lions don't hate each other." Scar explained, and saw Duchess come to stand by his side. She looked up at him, gave him a loving stroke with her paw on his soft mane – not caring anymore, if Kovu or Blanché saw this.

"Scar – that is the best thing I ever heard!" she then turned to his father; "Kovu, nobody chooses who they love. Blanché didn't choose it either, it just happens – but love finds a way." She had said the magick words, and Kovu looked up with a sigh, but nodded.

"I know… love always finds a way. I guess there is nothing else for me to do, but accept this – Scar is not a cub anymore. I wonder what his mother will say – I have a feeling that Nalathari won't be surprised though…" he said with almost a grin; "…but…" Kovu stood up again and paced a bit back and forwards in the chamber, looked like he was thinking. Then he finally looked up. "Kiana is to be the next queen then? What about Zarafa, where is she?"


	22. Things are changing

**Part 22 – Things are changing**

Scar tried to find his words. Zarafa hadn't said goodbye to anyone but him, so the others wouldn't know – except for the hyenas who saw her leave, but they weren't present.

"Well?" asked Kovu and looked at his son – wondering why he didn't just answer.

"We've had more than one problem here… Zarafa solved one of them. I am not sure if Kofi would ever have left us alone, if she hadn't made him leave." Scar explained, and Blanché looked up when he mentioned Kofi.

"He left?" she asked, surprised.

"Yes… he will leave you, me – the Shadowlands – alone. But only because Zarafa chose to follow him to the Skylands." He said and looked at his father.

"Kofi? Who's he?" Kovu was once again confused. Duchess tried to surpress a grin, this was becoming a little bit too comical. He would never fully understand why everything had happened the way it did, never.

"Kofi is my father, king of the Skylands. I came here for Scar, and my father followed me to get me back… he's not very happy with changes and differences at all. I'm afraid I can't go home either, he said I was not his daughter anymore…" Blanché suddenly felt very sorry for herself, and considered leaving the other lions alone.

"What? A father won't just say that to a daughter!" Kovu saw the sad look on her face, and was surprised. He would never tell any of his cubs, that they weren't his anyway. They could do a lot to surprise him and annoy him, but he could never hate them. That was why he had to accept Scars choice, for all he wanted was for them all to be happy.

"Well, he did! Because he thought it was disgusting, that… that I don't mind Duchess – he hates different lions and especially hyenas it seems." Blanche said with a sigh.

"But… well, we haven't always been best friends with the hyenas, but that's the circle of life… that's how it has always been." Kovu sent a hidden glance to Duchess, still feeling strange about actually having her in the family – a hyena!

"The circle of life is changing…" Scar said, mostly to himself. But the others knew it was the truth, and Duchess sent him a calm smile. He would stay with her, and they would be king and queen of the Shadowlands.

x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x

It was late in the evening, when Kiana suddenly saw something very bright move through the high grass down on the savannah. Ghosts? She shivered, but then pulled herself together to get her mother. She went inside and carefully she puffed to Kiara with her paw.

"Mother? There's someone coming…" she whispered, careful not to wake up the others.

"What? Is it Kovu?" Kiara said with a tired yawn, showing off all her teeth.

"I don't know… please come." Kiana went out again, and soon her mother followed. They both looked down, as the bright being began to climb the Pride Rock. But it followed another being, who Kiana didn't notice before. Finally Kovu climbed up, and looked down at the – now they saw it – lioness who followed him.

"Kovu!" Kiara ran to give him a cuddle, then she looked at the white lioness, not quite sure what to think of her mate bringing home another female. "Where is Scar? And Zarafa… and…?"

"Tomorrow I'll explain it all, at least the parts I understand. This is Blanché, who has no place to live. I stand by my word, she is welcome in our pride." Kovu smiled to the young lioness, who sent an insecure smile to the other two.

"I hope it is alright… I promise you won't notice me a lot." Blanché said with awareness.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be fine. Come, I'll show you our cave." Kiana took the lioness into the large cave where they all slept. Kiara looked after them until she was sure they were gone, then looked up at her mate again.

"Kovu?" she wanted an explanation.

"Wait until tomorrow! It's really too late, and I am tired… all I can say for now, is that Scar will come to visit us – and we can visit him and his queen – and Zarafa has found another mate, who lives far away. Come, let us sleep…" he left her alone out there. Kiara sat down and looked out across the savannah, spotting the cliffs of the Outlands and Shadowlands so far away. He had found a queen? But why didn't he return then, he had to return and become the king! Scar should be the next respectable king of the Pridelands – that had been Kiara's wish since she gave birth to the cub, and named him. But he hadn't become the Scar she had hoped he would be. So many unanswered questions… and only one cub left to live in the pride. What would become of herself, she thought.


	23. A dream came true

**Part 23 – A dream came true**

Kiara lay down in the shade of a tree, with her daughter and the lioness she and Kovu had somehow adopted. Several months had gone by since they returned, and today was another warm day.

"It's impossible to go and hunt today…" Kiana said with a yawn and looked out on the light green and yellow grass. It was a heatwave… although not a wave in the grass showed. No wind.

"I'm not hungry anyway… Blanché?" Kiara asked without looking up.

"Not really… just really tired." She said and tried to roll onto the other side.

"I think there's a fatamorgana out there… like something is moving." Kiana said, slowly sitting up – like it was a really hard thing to do.

"You should go to the waterhole and get some water." Her mother suggested.

"It's Scar! And… a hyena." The young lioness then said with a wondering voice, and Kiara almost jumped up.

"Did he bring his queen too?" Kiara asked, and looked out. Both the lion and the hyena looked tired and thirsty. Blanché didn't look in their direction – Kovu hadn't been able to tell his mate or daughter about the fact, that Duchess was a hyena. Nobody knew it but himself and the white lioness. In fact they hadn't seen Scar in several months, since they left the Shadowlands. Kiara hadn't searched his presence, hadn't gone to visit him. And Nalathari just became more and more mysterious every day – Blanché didn't quite get the aging queen-mother.

"He probably did." Blanché just said to them, and they both looked towards her.

"You know, you should really follow Kiana to the waterhole, once they get here. You need the water." Kiara said with a sigh, looking at Blanche´s not so small belly. How could he bring his queen, if they couldn't see a lioness with him too? Blanché clearly needed both food and water.

"I know, just let me take care of it myself." The white lioness said, a bit annoyed, and didn't move from her lying position nearest the tree.

x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x

"Kiana!" Scar began to run through the grass, when he spotted his sister. Her face brightened up in a smile, and she stood up when he came, and they gave each other a caring cuddle. "It's been too long!" he said and noticed his mother and Blanché.

"Scar… you've changed…" Kiara shook her head as if she didn't believe what she was seeing. No, Scar didn't starve in the Shadowlands, he had just become more slim and agile. He looked so much like his namesake, that she for a second thought it was him! Except that he was missing a scar across the eye, and his pelt was much more soft and smooth.

"Many things have changed… Duchess, come on!" he called and the light grey hyena slowly entered the shadow too, and looked around. "Blanché…" Scar suddenly noticed how big she had become. "Is that…"

"Yes, they're yours, when they come – but they'll grow up here." Blanché explained, to make sure he understood that they were her cubs too; and heirs to the Pridelands.

"Duchess? Where is she?" Kiara asked, since she didn't see any other lionesses follow Scar. The hyena sent Scar a puzzled look.

"Mother! This is Duchess, my queen. Didn't Kovu tell you?" Scar nodded to Duchess with a smile, then noticed his mother take a few steps back.

"No…" she whispered. "he didn't say a thing about… but how… I mean…"

"Scar, maybe we should just leave?" Duchess suggested to her mate – she didn't like the reaction from Kiara, it reminded her of Kofi.

"We are not leaving!" Scar almost roared, then calmed down again; "I want you to meet my family… Duchess, meet my sister Kiana and my mother, Kiara." He said with a noble nod to each. Kiara turned around and looked at Blanché.

"You knew! Why didn't you tell us?" she asked with a little growl.

"Mother… please calm down. It doesn't matter to me… I had a feeling everything wasn't as it should be, since father always talked about something else – when we asked how she looked. Duchess, I welcome you." Kiana was the queen to be, and had to show she had the situation under control – opposite her mother. She looked at Duchess who smiled, but didn't take her eyes away from the queen of the Pridelands.

"It isn't right! You are Scar, you should have stayed here… become the king of the Pridelands like I had hoped you would be. A king named Scar…" Kiara turned around to leave them, but stopped when she looked into the eyes of Nalathari, who had come to join them. Nalathari, whose face and tree wicked scars beamed up in a smile, when she noticed her grandson.

"It seems he has become more like the old Scar, than you ever thought." Nalathari said and walked past her daughter to greet the young king. He bowed to her.

"Athari… it's good to see you. Please meet Duchess, my queen." Scar said, happy that his grandmother was as friendly towards him, as she had always been.

"Pleased to meet you… Kiara, you know what? I remember Scars speech, when Mufasa just died - he spoke about the dawning of a new era, where lions and hyenas came together. Your son made his dream come true, but in a way he would never think about himself." Nalathari said and laid down.

"But…" Kiara tried, but didn't know what to answer. She was right, her mother – as always.

"So you see, Scar didn't do anything wrong – he chose love, just like you did." She smiled.

"In fact, I think he did think about this himself; although never when he lived." Scar said with a gloomy smile and looked at the sky; then he poked to Duchess – he wanted to show her the entire Pride Rock, and the rest of this family. "I expect we'll stay a few days." He said to the others, and began to walk away from the shadow.

"Who takes care of your lands then?" Kiana asked curiously. She was used to a life, where there was always someone of the family present. But they couldn't have any family there…

"His name is Al, we named him our deputy – because he brought us Scar in the first place; the best thing that ever happened to the hyenas." Duchess said and together she and her mate left towards the huge rocks nearby – leaving 4 lionesses look after them with each their thoughts. But all thought one thing, that the others did too, when they saw the lion and the hyena walk together; they did look somewhat right together. Scar had really become a king undisputed, both respected and saluted.The old king Scar had a dream, and it had come true. The new era he planned, had finally begun…

**THE END!**

**-Finished the 21/1 2006, by Atrice -**

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There, that was the end... I hope you all enjoyed the story, which turned out quite differently than I originally planned. But sometimes my stories just "write themself", without me doing a lot other than just writing down the tale. Please do read and review if you like - it's been a pleasure writing the story and reading all the reviews. _Atrice_


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